Offering to Disarm in Congo, After 20 Years of War

Boys in Kigogo, Democratic Republic of Congo, watched this month
as Rwandan militants turned in their weapons.
It was the biggest celebration many villagers had known.
CreditSarah Fluck for The New York Times

KIGOGO, Democratic Republic of Congo — Shortly after midday in this village nestled in clouds, the progenitors of the long, dirty war across Central Africa came out of the jungle and laid down their guns.

 

Not all the gunmen in their ranks: 83 guerrillas were present, along with their wives and children. And not all their guns: The cache included several ancient rifles, some rusty mortars and two Vietnam-era, American-made machine guns. But the gesture, wrapped in pomp and ceremony in the presence of foreign diplomats and United Nations officials, was a new twist in a war that has pitted tribes and nations against one another for 20 years and left a trail of rapes and massacres across a vast, mineral-rich section of the continent.